Bubble and Squeak
by HopelessHogwartian394
Summary: In which there is an identity reveal, everything gets a bit topsy turvy and everyone's head implodes for various reasons. Figuratively speaking.
1. A Conveniently Located Bush

This was not how Marinette had expected her day to go when she woke up this morning.

Admittedly, it could have been a much worse one. School had passed without incident so far, she had gotten everywhere on time and there had been no akuma attack while she had been in class.

It was during lunch that everything had gone to shit.

_  
Living so close to the school, Marinette normally went back to the bakery for lunch, and Alya often joined her. It was just the two of them messing around and eating whatever they could put together in the kitchen for lunch. Today, though, Alya had decided it would be a good idea to meet up with Nino and Adrien instead.

It was an unmitigated disaster. While exposure to Adrien had given her the ability to act somewhat normally around him, she still wasn't very good at interacting with him for very long. This made for a very awkward lunch. Adrien, bless his socially polite self, did his best to engage an increasingly awkward and uncomfortable Marinette in civil conversation, but she slowly got more embarrassed as time passed. Alya was no help whatsoever, busily engaging Nino in an intense debate and periodically throwing her best friend a smug grin, completely ignoring her increasing discomfort.

It didn't help that Adrien, searching for a topic of conversation, began to wax lyrical about Ladybug and how amazing he clearly thought she was, looking as lovestruck as Chat Noir did sometimes. Marinette never thought that she could make _Adrien Agreste_ look like that, even as Ladybug, and it made her so self-conscious that she awkwardly let him prattle on, and fiddle nervously with her plate untill she inevitably spilt her lunch all over herself.

Adrien, ever the gentleman, offered her his buttondown so she didn't have to endure having food all down her front. It was a sweet gesture, and one she readily accepted (anything was better than having to keep her soiled shirt on). Only problem was, this was _Adrien's_ shirt. It was at least four sizes too big and was just so undeniably him that Marinette was struggling not to hyperventilate.

Of course, as soon as she sat back down, shirt slipping off on shoulder and sleeves rolled up, screams broke out several streets away, their panicked tone indicating an akuma attack.

Alya, determined to catch Ladybug and Chat Noir in action, dashed off towards the commotion. Bizarrely, so did Adrien. Marinette barely had time to react before he gabbled out an excuse and dashed out the door. He was going to get himself hurt, so Marinette left Nino behind and dashed after him to drag him back to safety, so she could fight the akuma without being distracted worrying for his safety.

She caught a glimpse of blond hair ducking into a nearby alleyway, and followed it to see Adrien ducking out of sight ibhind a large planter holding an oversized hedge. Marinette was about to barge in and drag him to further safety when a shout of "Transformé moi!", and a flash of light came from Adrien's hiding place, and Chat Noir bounded out from behind the bush, leaving Marinette frozen in shock in the empty alleyway.

_  
 _Holy shit. Adrien is Chat Noir. Holy shit holy shit holy shit._

Marinette stood frozen for several seconds before the screams of civilians jolted her out of her stupor. Ducking behind the same conveniently located bush that Adrien _(Holy shit Adrien is Chat Noir)_ had just used, she called out to Tikki "Transformé moi!", feeling the familiar ripple of the suit and mask coming into existence.


	2. A Rolling Desk Chair

_Today, Ladybug and Chat Noir fought against and managed to defeat the akuma AnkleBiter._

 _The akumatised civillian appeared in the early afternoon in the 21e arrondissement. The victim was an unidentified child who took on the appearence of a crocodile. Their main power consisted of biting bystanders and transforming them into large plush crocodiles. These minions helped AnkleBiter in the fight against Ladybug and Chat Noir._

 _The fight today was over within the hour. But the blogger couldn't help but notice that Ladybug seemed to be a little out of it today, with Chat Noir doing most of the fighting today._

 _The fight ended with Chat Noir tearing the head off what is believed by witnesses to be a grey stuffed animal of some description, possibly a bear of some sort, that AnkleBiter was wearing as a backpack._

 _Little damage was caused in the fight, and, as always, everything was restored to its prefight state. Thank you Ladybug!'_

Marinette flopped back on her rolling chair with a sigh, tossing her phone off to the side. Alya had gotten some pretty good pictures of their altercation with AnkleBiter, clearly showing Chat ( _Adrien_ ) going toe to toe with the akuma half his height. It had been a rough fight, especially considering this particular akuma was incredibly fast and resilient, and kept creating minions to slow the two of them down. Chat ( _Adrien_ ) had been amazing, though, fighting twice as hard to make up for her dazed state that had slowed her down and rendered her useless when it came to fighting.

The Akuma had been the easy part. Finding the child's mother had been the hard part, since the child only seemed to speak english with the most incomprehensible accent. Marinette prided herself on her fluency in the language, and she knew Adrien was also pretty decent, but the kid's accent had been a nightmare, accompanied by near impenetrable slang that was almost a dialect in its own way. Suffice to say, it had taken them a while, even after she had come back from recharging Tikki. Chat (Adrien) had been so helpful, and made the kid laugh despite the language barrier.

Speaking of, she still couldn't believe that handsome, gentlemanly, _sane_ Adrien was the same person as her dorky, ridiculous crimefighting partner who-

 _oh_

 _wait a minute_

 _no_

 _If Adrien is Chat Noir and Chat Noir likes Ladybug, then that means-_

 _fuck_

 _Adrien actually like likes Ladybug_

Marinette was on the verge of freaking out. Why her? How on earth could she compete with Ladybug, with her confidence and grace. Even if Ladybug was _technically_ Marinette, she was still so much _better_ than Marinette. So much stronger, so much smarter, so much-

An insistent poking in her side roused her from her thoughts. Tikki was trying to get her attention. "Yes, Tikki?"

"Marinette, are you okay? I know you had a bit of a shock, but you seem more affected by this than I thought"

"What do you mean?" Marinette queried.

Tikki giggled. "You know who Chat Noir is behind the mask now Marinette, but why are you so affected by it?"

"It's just that, well if Adrien and Chat Noir are the same person when all this time ! thought there was no way that was possible, and that they were clearly different people, then, it's just, do I really know either of them? Urgh. I didn't explain that well, did I?"

Tikki giggled. "I understood what you meant, Marinette. If that's what you really think, then what are you going to do about it?"

"Tikki, what do you mean? It's not like I can waltz up to either of them and be like, 'Hey, I know who your alter ego is, and it turns out I know you there too. Did I mention I'm Ladybug? Because I am.' He'd hate me." She groaned and rested her head on the desk in front of her.

"Oh Marinette," Tikki sighed, "I'm sure that would never happen."

She turned her head sideways to face Tikki. "How do you know for sure, Tikki? It's not like I know Adrien that well. And I know Chat's secret identity when we agreed that we'd keep it a secret. Why is this so complicated?"

Tikki made vaguely supportive noises from atop Marinette's head as Marinette continued to contemplate her forearms at close range. It was several minutes before she was jerked from her vantage point when Marinette sat bolt upright.

"I know Tikki. I might not know either Adrien or Chat Noir as well as I might like, but I can easily get to know them. I just have to set my mind to it. It'll be easy. I got this."


	3. Pink Post-it

Marinette does not have this.

It had seemed so easy in theory. Get to know Adrien better, get to know Chat better, and then merge the two boys in her head into one. Simple.

It was not that easy. Talking to Adrien was still a struggle, between with her bumbling awkwardness and Chloé's overpossessiveness and domineering friendship, and she hadn't even _seen_ Chat the last few days because of the way they had arranged patrols.

Marinette still couldn't quite believe that Adrien and Chat were one and the same. They both acted so differently, Chat was so over-the-top and flirty, whereas Adrien was so much more reserved. It was extremely disconcerting and bizarre.

It was beginning to annoy her slightly that she couldn't manage to pull this off. But never let it be said that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a quitter. Since her current approach didn't seem to be working, it was time for plan B.

It was time to come up with plan B.

Marinette flops back on her bed and groans. She hats how muddled and twisted up she feels about this whole mess of a situation. The fact that her attempts to befriend Adrien properly were failing miserably were not very encouraging. She needed to come up with a strategy that was easier to execute than her current one.

"Tikki, help meee please," she whined plaintively. "I can't think of any way to make this work." Her face contorted into a grimace as she groaned in frustration at her conundrum. Tikki was not being remotely helpful, insisting that Marinette work things out herself.

"Marinette, you should really stop fretting over this. If its meant to happen, it will. Adrien will notice you in time, I'm sure of it. After all, you are Ladybug, with or without the suit."

"That's it!" Marinette hauls herself upright, a wild grin on her face. "All I have to do is get him to notice me. I'll be his friend and get to know him and _I won't let some silly schoolgirl crush get in the way._ Its foolproof."

Her determination is cemented now, and Marinette is prepared to be stubborn as all _heck_ if thats what it takes to get this mess straightened out. She's gonna channel her inner Ladybug as much as she can. Its a perfect plan, and it doesn't even require a heap of effort on her part.

Suddenly galvanised, she pushes off from the bed, skipping the ladder entirely and landing on the floor of her room to do… something. She's not entirely sure yet, but like Tikki repeatedly asserts, she is Ladybug. Coming up with the perfect plan on the fly is kinda her _thing._

Her gaze wanders aimlessly around her room before catching on her collage of Adrien pictures. Its as though she's looking at the pictures with someone else's eyes. It seems…excessive and incongruous, and more than a little, well, shallow for her to decorate her walls with his modelling pictures when she's just sworn _not_ to act like she has nothing more than a shallow crush on a pretty, handsome boy.

So she takes them down. Some she keeps (as _references_ ), but all the rest go straight into the recycling. She doesn't feel any different after she's done, but she never expected to anyway. So she huffs out a breath, shrugs, and turns to her homework. Its due tomorrow, and she's barely started on it, so she's got to make a start on it now.

* * *

Marinette twirls around on her desk chair, aimlessly staring off into space as she avoids doing her homework. Its halfway done, but her train of thought has obviously stalled, and it's getting dark outside, and so nothing is getting done. Tikki is chirruping quietly to herself as she dozes contentedly on Marinette's pillow.

It's almost peaceful, until Marinette falls off her chair with a thud, and pops up with a yell of "I'm okay!", and scrambles down the stairs. She returns five minutes later with a plate of biscuits covered in glad wrap and a thermos balanced precariously in her hands. Tikki watches with growing bemusement as her charge grabs a Sharpie and scribbles something on a pink post-it that she sticks to the plate.

Marinette rummages through her box of fabric offcuts and pulls out several long strips of brightly colored fabric. She gathers up the plate, thermos, and fabric, and carefully climbs past Tikki to her balcony. Tikki follows her curiously, and finds Marinette tying the fabric to the railing of her balcony, the plate and thermos placed on the table.

Marinette's face is determined, and she doesn't offer a word of explanation to Tikki as she clambers back down into her room, leaving Tikki to inspect the setup. The pink post-it, affixed to the glad wrap, reads 'For Chat Noir' in Marinette's looping handwriting. It's not signed. She has no idea what her charge is getting herself into now, but Marinette can take care of herself, so Tikki floats back into Marinette's room to get back to her nap.


End file.
